Between 1 and 8 March, students of Voronezh State University attended one of the largest events in our country over the past 8 years, the World Youth Festival. The Sirius Federal Territory welcomed more than 20 thousand participants from 188 countries. 19 of our students represented the Voronezh Region and Russia at this festival.
The programme was full of events, and a great number of speakers from various fields of science, art, sports, and volunteering spoke at the event. They all came to the festival to share their experiences with the participants. The festival included concerts by popular Russian singers. There were also morning exercises with Olympic champions. The main part of the educational programme was the federal professor’s marathon “Knowledge.First”.
“It’s not my first forum so I wasn’t sure that the festival would be able to surprise me, but it turned out to be quite the opposite. This is a historical event combining the best speakers from all over Russia, an excellent concert programme, and the high-level organisation of the event. I would like to note the work of the volunteers who were really professional and friendly to all participants and became real heroes of the festival. For me personally, this was a great chance to practise speaking a foreign language with people from all over the world, which also improved my cultural development. I really want to see more such events and I want everyone to have the opportunity to hold an international dialogue. I recommend VSU students to take part in forums and festivals more often, even if they are not as large-scale as the World Youth Festival. These events help us to understand of the importance of developing personal skills. During the festival we also had a chance to communicate and find new partners for our student sports club. We learnt about the future plans for the development of Association of Students’ Sports Clubs of Russia and talked in person with their new executive director,” said Igor Kotok, specialist of the Department of Student Affairs.
WYF-2024 is not just about meeting new people, but also a great chance to find out more about other cultures and traditions.
“The most important thing for me was meeting so many people from other countries. At first, of course, there was some tension, it was difficult because of the language barrier, but by the end of the festival I realised that it was not as terrifying as it seemed. I was able to get myself together and as a result I talked with students from different countries about some general things,” said Karo Nersesyan, a first year student from the Faculty of Chemistry.
Olesya Iconopistseva, a fourth year student from the Faculty of Economics, talked about her impressions and interesting conversations at the festival.
“Most of all I was impressed by the national costumes of different countries. Each costume, whether it be a colourful sari from India or a traditional Scandinavian dress, has its special history and symbolism. In this way the festival participants can enjoy the beauty of national costumes and also learn more about the cultures and traditions of different countries. All conversations with new people were interesting and unique in their own way. I was lucky enough to communicate with people from different countries in Africa, and there was a girl from Germany who told me about her studies and life in Russia as an exchange student. I was able to improve my Spanish by communicating with a girl from Spain. But the most unforgettable meeting was with the students from the Turkish delegation.
On the final day of the festival we visited the main sights of Sirius and we also went to see the Rosa Khutor Olympic Village, Krasnaya Polyana, and then on to a sightseeing tour of Sochi.
Most VSU students attended the closing ceremony of the festival which highlighted the importance of such events. President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin took the stage and wished all participants to have a successful start in any field they choose, and most importantly, to keep on developing.
